India at Games: 0 or 3-plus medals

Yes, because we have the potential. No, because we are poor in man-aging expectations and spotlight. More importantly, though most of our sportspersons have prepared better than the last time, we don’t know if they have prepared better than their rivals.

Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in Beijing largely because he went into a trance and partly because the unwanted media focus was on Gagan Narang. If Bindra wins a medal again, it can partly be contributed to his refusal to accept sponsorship if they want him to be present for promotional (media mileage) events.

In other words, don’t be surprised if shuttler P Kashyap fares better than Saina Nehwal. If he does, it could stem from the lack of expecta-tion and he that he is a craftier player than Nehwal.

A player waiting for the stardom is always more dangerous than the star.

Boxer Mary Kom may already feel that God is on her side after her lucky break in qualification. And if she feels buoyant on D-Day, a medal is not out of reach.

Remember India have a short history of doing well in debut sports: P T Usha in the 400m hurdles in 1984; K. Malleswari in weighlifting at Sydney 2000; and Sudha Singh at 2010 Asian Games (women’s 3,000m steeplechase became Olympic event only in 2008). And women’s boxing is making it debut at the Summer Games.

The signs for hockey team are ominous. Once again pre-event reports draw a big yawn — penalty corner conversions, injuries, the unfavourable blue pitch et al. Under the circumstances, fifth place would be a better achievement than our devalued gold of Moscow 1980 in a depleted field.

Though Seema Antil is a dark horse in athletics, we have no logical hope in that section. Ditto swimming. We must review our policy on swimming and athletics because we lack physical attributes to excel in those sports.

Former Olympian and World championship medallist Anju Geroge was emphatic in saying that we don’t have a chance in athletics. I wonder what she would have said if she was in contention or battling with authorities for pre-Games foreign exposure.

We have already lost 90 per cent of the battle in tennis because we don’t have top-class players for Olympics where the singles players will also try their hand in the doubles. Doubles won’t be neglected, second-grade citizens at the Games like they are at the Grand Slams or other events. Expectations, patriotism will be more intense at the Games. Indians must thank our London population if they join the party.

The remaining 10 per cent of medal chances in tennis were killed by doubles combination of AITA and Leander Paes.I am hugely interested to see our doubles ‘specialists’ play against a high-quality singles player at the All England Club. Remember Federer and Wawrinka made mincemeat of Paes and Bhupathi in Beijing en route to their gold medal.Despite being a contact sport, boxing and wrestling hold medal hopes. But whether they provide us a better chance than shooting is a matter of debate. Being a non-contact, non head-to-head sport, shooting technically provides us a larger window. But don’t be surprised if a new star emerges from these three sports.

And finally, archery.

Gold for Deepika Kumari could be a fascinating story. Go for it Deepika!

Another plea to all Indian participants: Please don’t give excuses about the wind, ammunition, drift, bad umpiring and conspiracy theories. Of course, they could be valid reasons but reserve that for an insightful book. Citing those reasons immediately after losing is not dignified.

My final medal guess for India: Zero or three (could be more too). Doubt if there will be anything in between. After all, we are a nation of extremities!

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From being a mad fan of Sunil Gavaskar and John McEnroe, he has turned a bit cynical towards cricket, thanks to a barrage of insignificant matches, BCCI politicians and "source" stories.

Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From. . .